Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Ted Cruz Supporters Dominate NC’s GOP Delegate Selection So Far

Donald Trump won North Carolina’s Republican primary last month, but many of the state’s GOP convention delegates elected so far prefer the second-place candidate: Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

That could spell trouble for Trump if he doesn’t arrive at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in July with the 1,237 delegates required to win on the first ballot.

For the first round of voting, North Carolina’s delegate count must proportionately match the state’s March 15 primary results: 29 votes for Trump, 27 for Cruz, nine for John Kasich, six for Marco Rubio and one for Ben Carson.

Any delegate who doesn’t support the assigned candidate faces a fine of up to $10,000, according to N.C. Republican Party rules. But if no candidate gets 1,237 votes on the first ballot, delegates then can support anyone they want – and for many North Carolina delegates, that’s Cruz.

“Cruz has got a better ground game,” said NCGOP first vice chair Michele Nix, who said the majority of delegates chosen so far support Cruz.

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N.C. Sen. Ronald Rabin of Harnett County is one of the state’s only elected leaders who endorsed Trump, and he attended the 2nd District convention in Sanford on April 9.

“There was a heavy Cruz influence at the 2nd District convention,” he said. “They vowed to vote for Cruz, and that’s why they got elected.”

Steven Greene, a political science professor at N.C. State University, said the trend is not surprising given the Cruz campaign’s success at the grassroots level.

“He has been smart and organized in trying to see to it that these delegates – regardless of whether they’re pledged to him or not – are supporters of his,” Greene said.